


And Then They Were Roommates

by reaperlight



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Ultimate Spider-man (Comics), Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018), Venom Lethal Protector
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst, Anti-Hero Venom, Assassins & Hitmen, College, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Crack and Angst, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Eddie Brock Sr.'s A+ Parenting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Identity Porn, Implied/Referenced Cannibalism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mullet Eddie Brock, Multi, Mutual Pining, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Roommates, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail, Slow Burn, Threesome - M/M/M, Wade Wilson's Parent's A+ Parenting, canon is a box of scraps - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 16:43:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15344085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reaperlight/pseuds/reaperlight
Summary: Greetings dear readers. I, Deadpool will be taking over the summary because the author sucks at them.++That’s such a cliché.++Quiet Yellow. Okay, let’s do this. A science nerd, an aspiring writer, and yours truly...++Yawn++Alright, fine! A costumed hero, a killer, and a mercenary…++Wait, aren’t those last two practically the same thing?++Nah… The difference is that Eddie does it for free. I get paid… sometimes. Not nearly as much as I should. Anyway I make new friends and Petey Pie reconnects with old ones. There’s action, drama, microwave burritos, and copious amounts of green slime in the shower again… Dammit Eddie!++What about two assholes and the purest cinnamon roll…?++Why did you leave out Petey?++Uh he’s the cinnamon roll, clearly.++I thought that was the tentacle cuddle monster?++Whatever. Does this even have a plot?++I think we stumbled upon one completely by accident, turning what was meant to be a stupid one-shot into a multi-chapter fic. See how it’s labeled College AU and Mercenaries?++Well, duh. I’m a mercenary. So let’s do some mercenary-ing!++Uh.. we’ll get back to you on that. But now… to the story!





	1. Prologue: The Secret Lives of Superheroes

**Author's Note:**

> Typography notes:  
>  **Bold is Venom talking**  
>  **{Venom symbiote mental speech with Eddie or other bonded }**  
>  _Italics characters thinking or Deadpool's white boxes_  
>  **++plus signs and bold Deadpool's yellow boxes++**

“Aw, _hell,_ ” Peter swore.

“What now?” Eddie demanded from the sofa, irritated to be again interrupted from his reading. They were currently working their way through some thick, classical tome for his literature class. 

“Well, it looks like I can’t vacuum today. The vacuum is all clogged up.”

“Unclog it then,” they said, before licking his fingers and turning a page. 

“ _You_ do it, Eddie. It’s _your_ hair.” 

“ …you can’t prove it’s ours.” 

“Eddie… you’re the only one here with long blond hair.” 

“It certainly isn’t mine,” Wade added distractedly, indicating his bald head, before returning his attention to fiddling with his phone. 

Eddie crossed his arms. “You just had Gwen Stacy over,” they accused. 

“She was over _one time,_ Eddie. And she wasn’t here nearly long enough to shed so much.” Peter shook his head “Anyway, jealousy does not become you.” 

_“We’re not being jealous!”_ they snapped before storming off in a mood. 

_“Whatever you tell yourself_ — Wade?” Peter frowned. Wade was being awfully quiet lately. That never boded well. His concerns were not allayed when Wade abruptly smashed his cellphone and left their shared townhouse apartment without a word. 

_“Dammit Wilson, you left nachos on the radiator again!”_ Eddie swore from the other room, unaware of the shift in mood. 

“Eddie, wait. Something’s going on with Wade.”

“Yeah, he left his nachos—”

“I really don’t think it’s nacho-related.” 

*** 

They found Wade sitting on a park bench and sullenly throwing rocks at pigeons. 

Peter sat down next to him. “You okay, Wade?”

“Huh? Yeah… fine.”

 _“What happened?”_ Eddie demanded. 

“Nothing. It’s nothing,” he insisted. “It’s just… just a bad day, that’s all.”

***

Wade couldn’t tell them the real reason he was down. 

His roomies didn’t know about his other life—that he was the mercenary Deadpool and Wade naively hoped to keep it that way. 

Despite initially loathing the entire concept he’d come to enjoy this assignment a little too much—playing the part of a normal college student. Well, as “normal” as someone like him could get. 

He hadn’t expected to make friends and to find acceptance with Peter and Eddie. 

That all shattered when he received the other half of his assignment. 

And now he could honestly say he would never have taken this assignment if he knew who his target was from the offset. 

Because who the hell would ever want to kill a sweet, decent guy like Peter Parker?


	2. The Beginning

It all began— 

Well that was relative wasn’t it? 

The universe began with a bang. 

The symbiote itself began fuck knows when and fuck knows where somewhere in outer space but it was probably on a cosmic timescale that would make most humans mad to contemplate. 

Eddie Brock’s friendship with Peter Parker began when they were both kids and still innocent. 

But the whole _roommate_ thing? That began because Eddie realized he actually had an inheritance but hadn’t wanted to move back into his father’s old house—it brought back too many bad memories. 

The townhouse he’d found instead was a bit expensive though, even after their sudden windfall and selling Sr.’s old place. Eddie was trying to be careful with Sr.’s money (even though he would no longer be needing it) because they knew enough about what it was like to go without when it was just him… _them,_ him and his head-roommate. 

It was a lovely place, but expensive. Even after selling his father’s place he probably couldn’t afford to keep it unless they split the rent with a roommate or two. And to be honest it was kind of big for just him and his Other. While they needed the quiet and they liked having space this somehow… it was too much space, too quiet. They’d actually gotten used to living with other people while in the San Francisco underground and now that they were on their own again they found things had gotten well, rather lonely. 

So Eddie figured it would be better to rent out the extra space and get some _human roommates_ too. Besides, they’d found while living on the streets of San Francisco that they actually did better when they were around other people. It was grounding for them to have people to talk to (and to _protect_ ) and they couldn’t have asked for better roommates than Peter and Wade… 

***

Peter had needed a place to stay, an affordable place, and one he could operate out of without Aunt May learning his secret or putting her in danger. He saw the ad, the offer to share a townhouse apartment online. Perhaps he was drawn to it—after all it wasn’t that different from the one he used to share with Harry before they’d fallen out over spiders and goblins. It appeared to be the type that had balconies and windows that opened too so as long as he had a room to himself and a door that locked he was golden… 

***

Wade, quite by accident, had seen the ad too when a discarded newspaper littering the streets of New York had quite literally blown into his face, right when he was looking for something like this to establish a cover for his assignment. It seemed like Fate so he figured he’d best listen—Fate was BFFs with his girl Death after all… 

***

So it was that Peter and Wade had both answered the ad at about the same time and Wade came across a scene so tooth-rotting he feared it would overwhelm his healing factor and he’d be stuck on a liquid diet for the next week... 

“Pete? _Peter Parker?!”_

 _“Eddie?”_

“Oh my God, _look at you buddy!_ You’re all grown up!” 

“Damn Eddie Brock! What have they been feeding you?” Peter couldn’t help but stare—the awkward bean pole he’d known as a kid had totally hulked out and looked, well, quite good in that flattering black muscle T. 

Eddie smirked obnoxiously. “Like what you see?” 

“Uh…. if I’m interrupting something, I can come back later,” Wade muttered upon seeing the touching reunion. He probably shouldn’t bother. It looked like the apartment he’d been eyeing was already taken…

(He really should leave before yellow goaded him into becoming stabby.) 

“No no, come on in, come in!” Eddie insisted. 

***

The newcomer, who introduced himself as Wade, wore a faded grey hoodie that did little to hide his obvious skin condition. 

Peter tried not to stare.

“I’m not contagious.” 

_“Shit!_ Sorry, we’re an asshole,” Eddie apologized quickly. Clearly they'd been staring too. “Want anything to drink? Uh… you like chocolate milk?” they cringed—they really needed to make a grocery run and stock the kitchen with more _human_ food. 

“No, I mean yeah but that’s okay,” Wade stumbled, “It’s just… I saw the ad and I’m uh… looking to rent a room? I can pay…?”

Well, he would be able to pay, once he received the check for this latest hit. 

Wade normally wouldn’t have agreed to this kind of undercover mission, especially one where he had to forgo his mask and costume, but this assignment had promised a very lucrative payout and he needed money for pain meds. Of course he hadn’t anticipated all the obstacles along the way… 

“Look… I just need a place to stay that’s near campus and well, the usual places aren’t exactly open to… someone like me. I scare the students and drive down the property value.” 

Eddie frowned. “That’s messed up, dude.”

Wade shrugged “It happens.” 

“It doesn’t bother us… uh I mean me. We shouldn’t speak for you, Pete.”

“It doesn’t bother me either.” 

“We’ve seen worse,” Eddie insisted, thinking of the occasions he and his Other had encountered the Ghost Riders.

“Really? _Where?_ ” Peter asked incredulously and immediately felt like a tool. “Not that I meant to imply—” 

“That I look like the bastard offspring of Freddie Krueger and a rotten avocado? Yeah, I know. It’s okay, I’m used to it.” 

“I’m sorry, _I’m so sorry…_ ”

“Pete, stop you’re making it weirder. And… it was on the streets. We saw worse on the streets.” 

“What do you mean…? Eddie …You were—?” 

Eddie turned away in embarrassment. 

Wade grinned. “That’s dope my friend.” 

Well, despite some initial hang ups it seemed that they’d get along just fine… 

Eddie had insisted that there was room for all of them there and the rest, as they say, was history.

They’d agreed to share the rent and the chores between them along with a litany of other rules:

“Okay, House rules. 1. You get your own room, that’s your space. And in this house we respect each other’s privacy and don’t ever go in without being invited or knocking first. The only exceptions being if like, something’s on fire or we hear screaming…. oh on a related note let us know if you’re playing music or games or something in there so we don’t think you kidnapped somebody. Okay, 2. Everyone helps out with the chores—we’ll draw up a schedule or something to make sure it’s fair. 3. And this is very important, no loud music. That’s like the really important one because we need the peace and quiet for writing and studying. Alright? As for what’s too loud if it carries outside the walls of your room it’s definitely too loud. 4. No illegal drugs, or like guns or anything else that would get you or your housemate arrested for having it in your possession… Like… do whatever you want outside the house, we’re not vice. Party hard. Whatever. Just don’t do it in here.” 

Wade nodded. He’d already stashed a couple guns under the seat of his pink Vespa and he’d stored the rest of his weapons in a storage locker a few blocks away. So technically there were no guns in the house. He did keep a couple of concealed knives strapped to his person but he figured that was allowed given there were knives in the kitchen too. And he may or may not have left a stash of cocaine with Blind Al depending on the continuity... 

“5. No nude pictures of anime girls...” 

“Woah, wait a damn minute!” Wade cut in, “if this is a no porn house, I’m afraid that’s a deal-breaker.” 

“No, we mean, like, porn is fine but dude, just have some taste. So no anime girls, especially none of that creepy lolicon crap. Oh, and we don’t think this needs to be said but no kiddie porn either… “ 

“Damn, who were you roommates with before?!” Peter cut in. 

“Someone with very bad taste. Like, _really_ bad taste. Gave us some serious indigestion.” 

Peter laughed but Eddie looked dead serious. 

“Okay, 6. _Peter_ … all science experiments that you put in the fridge should be labeled as such…” 

“Oh _come on_. That was _one time_ and I was like _twelve_. 

“The rule still stands… in fact. It’s a good idea to label any leftovers and such that go in the fridge with whose it is, what it is, and when it was made so we don’t poison ourselves. 7. Any food that goes into the fridge is fair game for anyone who wants to eat it unless you label it as exclusively yours.” 

“I’m holding you to that,” Wade interjected again to Eddie’s annoyance. 

“And uh… we think that’s it…” Eddie anxiously scratched the back of his neck. “You guys want to add anything?”

Peter looked thoughtful. “I think it sounds pretty fair. How about, uh… Warn your housemates if you have people over and like put a sock on the door or something if…”

“Oh yeah, good point.”

Damn, they hadn’t even thought of that. They hadn’t bothered much with dating after the utter disasters that had been their relationships with Anne Weying and Beck Underwood. Hell, the only consistent relationship Eddie had managed to maintain was with his Other...

“How about you, Wade?” Peter prompted, bringing Eddie back to the present and out of his depressive spiral. 

Wade thought a moment. “Just… warn me if you’re going to watch any movies with Thom Cruz in it so I can leave the room," Wade shuttered in revulsion. "I can’t stand _stand_ that guy.” 

“Alright.” 

“Oh, Eddie. We don’t talk about the thing.”

“That thing?”

“You know… _the thing._ ” 

“Oh! _That_ thing. Of course! Of course we don’t talk about the thing.” 

Wade glanced suspiciously between them. “Okay, see? Now I’m curious.”

“Sorry, Wade. We’re sworn to secrecy.” 

“Why, did you kill a man?” Wade joked, but then looked at his host curiously when Eddie seemed a bit unsettled by the accusation, however jokingly it had been made. 

“No, of course not!” Peter laughed. 

“Smoke crack?” 

“No!”

“Steal a car?”

“No.” 

“Road trip across America slaying demons?” 

“Uh… _What?!_ No.” 

“Was it gay panic?”

They both paused tellingly before adamantly shouting _“NO!”_

“Uh huh… alrighty then.”

So he’d clearly agreed to room with two high school sweethearts who were totally in denial about everything. 

That wouldn’t be awkward at all. 

They were nice guys, though, cute… 

Too damn good for him. 

They deserved to be happy though. 

Hell, maybe he could help set them up together if he got bored with his current assignment. Wade got the feeling that this was going to be a slow burn. The client hadn't even told him the target yet...


	3. Sharing Tragic Backstories

Peter certainly wasn’t expecting the one who placed the ad, and the owner of the townhouse to be his long lost childhood friend, Eddie Brock. It turned out Eddie’s father had money, money that Eddie in fact did have a claim to—something that Eddie himself had been unaware of, at least until very recently…

 _“What?”_ Eddie snapped when he saw how Pete kept shooting him looks of concern. 

“Eddie… you said you were living on the streets? …Sorry,” Peter quickly amended. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” 

Eddie sighed. “We want to, okay? We mean, if you guys are going to be living here we guess it’s fair you know about us… _me._ Okay… uh, Pete? You remember how we never got on with my father? Well, after, you know, the accident…” Eddie hedged, not particularly wanting to revisit the night the Parkers died and he suspected Pete wouldn’t either. 

Peter cringed but nodded. 

“Well, _like hell_ were we going to live with him again—” 

That Eddie hadn’t gotten on with his father while the man was alive was quite an understatement. In fact Eddie had lived with the Parkers for a time when they were kids, after Edward Sr. had kicked him out of the house. Peter had been too young to understand the specifics at the time but in the intervening years he’d learned that his parents had almost adopted Eddie. The court case was pending against their former partner, Edward Sr. right before the accident. Hell, Eddie could have been his _brother_ had things worked out differently. 

Peter wasn’t sure why that idea disturbed him so much. After all, he liked Eddie… But now that idea seemed awkward for reasons Peter didn’t want to examine too closely though he wasn’t even sure why. They’d been close as kids, despite Eddie being five years older. Peter had been devastated when Eddie disappeared but now he felt guilty for not examining it closer at the time, even though back then he really had been too young to understand. To Peter, Eddie’s disappearance had been one more loss compounding the loss of his parents… 

_“Eddie…”_

Eddie shifted uncomfortably. Peter was looking at him with such pity that they couldn’t stand it. They turned away. “You could have come with me, Eddie. You could have come lived with me and Aunt May and Uncle Ben…” Peter swallowed. “You would have liked Uncle Ben.” 

Eddie squeezed his fist at his side and worked to control his breathing. This conversation was certainly raising his blood pressure levels and he needed to calm down before his Other leapt to his defense…

Eddie only answered when he was sure they were under control. 

“We weren’t thinking straight and in any case we didn’t want to impose on you Pete, you just lost your parents for chrissake!” 

Peter shuddered slightly and looked down at his lap. 

“So…” Wade prompted. “I take it you didn’t chose the thug life, the thug life chose you?” 

“Pretty much. Long story short we ended up living with San Francisco’s homeless community… before it became too dangerous to stay.” 

His roomies nodded though his words didn’t cover the full truth. 

It was too dangerous… _for them._

Even when they were on their best behavior Venom always seemed to attract some kind of hostile attention or powerful enemies and it got to the point where they just didn’t want to put their friends in danger anymore. They’d hoped they’d left their problems behind in California and they would get a fresh start now that they were back in New York… 

“We went to get a loan, you know, to get my bike… and discovered uh… we have money. Didn’t think the asshole would have put us in his will… and he didn’t. It was something my mother did. Before….” Eddie swallowed. He’d killed her. She was dead because of him…

Peter frowned and edged closer to his friend. He knew this much of the story. Eddie’s mother died in childbirth. A fact Edward Sr. never failed to remind them of seeing as he blamed Eddie for his mother’s death. Peter reached out and squeezed Eddie’s shoulder in a show of support... and for a moment he swore that he felt the fabric of Eddie’s shirt squeezing back… 

“My dad walked out on me when I was a kid,” Wade blurted out suddenly. “And I got kicked out of the house too. Yay, Team Daddy Issues!” 

Both Peter and Eddie both turned to him, confused.

“Sorry, I thought we were sharing tragic backstories.” 

Peter and Eddie then shared a look of concern. 

Peter considered for a moment sharing the fact he was an orphan, and that his Uncle Ben, the man who raised him, was shot and died in his arms but then he somehow got the feeling that everyone knew about that by now. 

“Uh… do you want to talk about it?” Peter asked. 

“Not particularly.” 

“...Okay.” 

“Shit, it’s just… all this… I don’t suppose you have anything to drink around here?” Wade asked hopefully. 

“Uh… Chocolate milk?” Eddie reminded them. 

For the most part they tended to avoid drinking. They had enough vices between them and alcohol gave them nightmares. 

Wade gave a put upon sigh. “It will have to do.” 

*** 

“Well,” Eddie started again with mock cheerfulness after a long and painful silence filled only with the sipping of chocolate milk, “now that we shared our life story, we don’t suppose you want to stay…” 

“I’m staying,” Peter snapped immediately already displaying a fierce protectiveness towards his childhood… friend? Crush? Whatever they were. 

It was adorable, really. 

“I’ll take it,” Wade insisted, even managing to throw in a solemn nod. 

After all, even if it all was kind of a bummer atmosphere he still needed a base to operate out of in order to complete his latest assignment and apparently these two could at least tolerate seeing his face... 

**++You like them.++**

_Shut up, Yellow._

**++Like, _like_ them.++**

_I **will** stab you with a q-tip. I don’t care how much grey matter gets in the way... Why are you so interested anyway?_

**++It’s just the entertainment value. Seriously, skinny nerd guy looked seriously ready to throw down, you know? To take ass and kick names… or something… for Mr. Universe over there.++**

_You know we’d climb that like a tree, right?_

**++…Don’t make this awkward.++**

_Too late._


	4. The Hero of Your Own Story

Peter was, quite naturally, majoring in science at ESU. Eddie was taking a few science courses there too (so he and Peter shared a couple of classes) but he was planning on majoring in Journalism, maybe with a minor in creative writing, and Wade… well, Eddie wasn’t sure what he was majoring in but it seemed to involve Spanish text books, cooking classes, and basket weaving—but Eddie was sure he’d figure it out. He’d noticed that despite his difficulties Wade was already actually quite skilled at a number of things and was probably qualified for any number of careers… provided anyone bothered to look past the surface. But then people could be superficial morons. 

(A fact Eddie knew and had well-used to his advantage. His other could mimic any clothes perfectly—that included well-tailored suits and police uniforms. Honestly, sometimes they felt it was too damn easy to hide in plain sight and just stroll away from a kill-site…) 

Eddie marveled at the ease in which Peter slipped back into his, no _their_ life as if the years lost between them meant nothing. And then there was Wade. Wade who should have been an anomaly in this arrangement had somehow integrated himself into their little household as if he was always meant to be there. Somehow he balanced them out, often playing the unlikely role of peacekeeper whenever he and Peter got to bickering over something stupid.

***

“Hey Eddie, join us for a _Star Wars_ marathon?” 

“Can’t. Sorry, we got work tonight,” Eddie said tightly, genuinely regretful even though he must have seen those movies thousands of times back when he was living with the Parkers. They remained cherished memories of a happier time, back when he was innocent… 

_“Wait a minute…”_ Peter said, just realizing, “Your heir to a small fortune and you’re _moving boxes?!”_

“Hey, don’t be snobby,” Wade scolded, flinging a piece of popcorn at the back of Peter’s head. Peter looked amusingly shocked that it actually hit him. 

“The money won’t last unless we’re careful!” Eddie snapped, “Besides, we like having an income and not having to _think_ for a few hours.”

Wade could appreciate the need though he doubted such a remedy would actually work for him given that his “head-boxes” never seemed to shut up. 

“Well, looks like it’s just you and me, Babe,” Wade began after Eddie had left. “You, me, this sofa…” Wade tried to say seductively while patting the seat next to him. “Netflix and chill.”

Peter however was barely paying attention to Wade’s awkwardness, having caught a glimpse outside of a too familiar Goblin-shaped silhouette flying past their window. 

_Oh no… Harry…_

He’d obviously relapsed. 

“On second thought, maybe I should go out and get some fresh air…” Peter murmured his excuses while bolting from the room. 

Wade winced. Alright, maybe that was inappropriate… But was he really _that_ repulsive?

**_++Yes. Yes you are.++_ **

***

Eddie was on his way to work when the bus in front of him exploded—a pumpkin bomb slamming into the roof setting the vehicle ablaze. 

They swerved their bike off the side of the road and wasted no time in transforming into Venom. They knew people were still alive in there—his other was very sensitive to sound and they could hear the screaming. 

People were trapped and couldn’t get out. The door had become warped by the heat, and stuck in position thanks to the initial blast. 

Venom stoically ignored the flames (and his own other, screaming in terror in the back of his skull) in order to rip away the side of the bus with their claws and raw strength so that the terrified passengers could make their escape. 

Of course the people could hardly be too pleased to see a grinning monster upon reaching their salvation but Venom had learned not to take it personally—they knew their appearance could be quite unsettling to most humans and they were trying very hard to be the friendly neighborhood monster that this situation required. 

Venom suppressed a growl as they assisted the injured from the blaze. They knew exactly who was to blame for this. 

They’d seen the Goblin fly away on that stupid bat glider thing, _cackling._

Eddie recognized him from the News—the Green Goblin, the maniac that had terrorized New York. 

They were going to kill him. 

They were going to fucking _eviscerate_ him. 

But first, the matter at hand—complicating things, one of the people they’d rescued was apparently an unaccompanied minor.

Eddie’s first inclination had been to hand her off to the police but they seemed more inclined to shoot at them than listen to anything they had to say.

The girl herself was clearly traumatized and wouldn't or couldn’t speak. 

Even risking showing his face (their human face, _Eddie’s_ face) and putting the fangs away hadn’t helped.

The Goblin was getting away. 

But they couldn’t just abandon the child. 

If only he could just hand her off to someone else, someone they could _trust…_

_**“Peter…”** _

Of course! Peter would help them…

Except that he didn’t know, did he? They never got around to telling him, to talking about… 

_“Oh by the way, Pete, we’re not exactly Eddie anymore, or not **just** Eddie. Not the Eddie you knew. We’re Venom now, we’re a symbiotic entity that shares a body and sometimes we kill people… But only bad people—pinky swear! We hope this doesn’t negatively affect our friendship.”_

Yeah, that would go over well. 

They cursed, (internally of course—there was a child present.) They hadn’t expected to mention this little detail, at least not so soon but they couldn’t just abandon the child nor could they ignore the Goblin when he continued to harm innocents. 

Venom quickly scaled the wall and climbed in through the balcony window of their own apartment. They’d obviously startled Wade who had been in the middle of binge-watching the _Alien_ movies alone in the dark. 

_Dammint._

Peter clearly wasn’t in. 

They were momentarily confused by that—Eddie was sure that Pete didn’t have any more classes tonight. 

Well, shit. This night kept getting worse and worse. 

Then there was the matter of Wade. His other roomie’s reaction was instantaneous, as soon as Wade realized he wasn’t alone he’d reached for the nearest weapon, or what could pass for a weapon in this weapons-free house, which happened to be a butter knife he’d used on his popcorn—an understandable reaction, given that they were currently a huge ass monster and they had snuck up on him. Venom caught it easily enough but they couldn’t help but cock their head in confusion. That had been quite a throw—it probably would have done some damage had it landed—and it had come as easily to Wade as breathing. 

_Curious…_

Venom stifled another growl when they once again heard the madman cackling outside. 

It was a curiosity that they would have to examine another time. 

**“We mean you no harm.”**

Wade was still on his guard. (Of course he was, he’d be stupid not to.) 

Venom hissed when the butter knife was quickly followed up by an actual throwing knife. Their tendrils swatted it away with ease but Wade really shouldn’t have stuff like that in the house—but then this was hardly the time or place for such a debate. 

**“Please… _Wade._ ”**

Admittedly they hadn’t known Wade nearly as long as Peter but as far as Eddie could tell he was a decent guy even if he could be a bit of an ass. 

At least he paused in his knife throwing when he saw the girl in his arms. 

Yes, they decided, she would be safe with him.

**“Pleassse help her, she is innocent.”**

“Uh… Okaaaay…” Wade blinked as the monster passed him the silent, staring girl and then leapt out the balcony window again, stealing away into the night. “Well… That was weird.” 

Maybe it was someone from Sister Margaret’s but if so it was no one he recognized. Maybe they were a new merc given that they had him running errands like this. Either that or competition. In any case he'd have to keep an eye out for them.  
Dammit, Domino could have at least called and _warned_ him before siccing the xenomorph on him. 

Wade looked over at the unkonwn girl who was now sitting on his sofa, staring without blinking at the monsters rampaging on TV. 

Well… _shit._

Why him? Seriously? Why him? He was hardly hero material and people always assumed the worst of him because of his skin. 

“Uh… hey. Kid.. uh, did Mr. Landshark there kidnap you?”

After a moment the girl seemed to reluctantly shake her head. 

_“…Fire,”_ she mumbled. 

“What?” 

“There was fire.” 

The girl flinched as the xenomorph roared on the TV screen. Wade quickly turned off _Aliens_ and the nightly news popped up in its absence. The girl flinched again, worse this time when they were treated to a view of police and firefighters milling about the scene and shaky cell phone footage of the monster rescuing people from a burning bus, an incident that had very clearly happened right outside on the street below their apartment. 

“You were in all that? …he _rescued_ you?” 

The girl nodded and then looked away. 

“I wanna go home.” 

Wade winced. “Okay… uh kid, I don’t suppose you know your address? Your phone number?” 

The girl fidgeted and played with her curls. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.” 

Wade chewed his lip thoughtfully. 

_Don’t freak out. You’re scaring the kid!_

**_++Okay, okay breathe… Easy solution. We’ll just call her a cab.++_**

_That’s your solution? Just hand her off to some random stranger?!_

_**++Seemed to work for tall, dark, and ugly!++**_

Wade swallowed, “Uh… Could you tell a cab driver?”

After a moment the girl reluctantly nodded. 

“Then I’m going to call you a cab, alright? And a pizza. Do you like pizza? …Okay, stupid question,” Wade amended when the girl’s eyes lit up at the very suggestion. 

_Duh, of course not just any cab! What we need is a trustworthy…_

Wade picked up his phone and selected from one of his few autodial contacts. The phone began to ring. 

_**++…ride or die…++**_

Wade steadied his breathing just as the phone call connected. 

_…cabbie…_

“Hey Dopinder…”


	5. With Friends Like These

_“Harry!”_

Peter flipped away in order to avoid the multiple blades that shot out of Harry’s gauntlet when he’d tried to approach him. When Harry had seemingly exhausted his supply of blades, Peter tried again, leaping his way closer and taking cover from Harry’s attacks behind an industrial fan and some conveniently placed cinder blocks.  


_“Harry!”_  


_“Go away!”_  


“Harry, please! This isn’t you!”  


When Peter lunged again Harry caught him with superhuman strength (confirming Peter’s worst fears, Harry was using again) and tossed him right off the building.  


As the wind blew past his ears, Peter marveled at what a familiar sensation it was, he must have jumped from skyscrapers like this himself a million times, it was second nature to him to just shoot out a webline and correct himself.  


But he didn't get the chance.  


Something snagged Peter, stopping his descent before he could fall or right himself, dropping him, or maybe _throwing him_ , to safety and Peter landed none too gently on a nearby ledge.  


Peter sat up, disoriented, and honestly more alarmed by his mystery rescuer than he was by Harry because whatever had caught and thrown him… it hadn’t set off his spider sense. 

***

Venom swiftly ascended the side of a building again, claws sinking into the bricks in his haste and when the Goblin passed by they jumped off into the void of night, _slamming_ into the stupid Green Power Ranger wannabe, and knocking him off his (sick) hover board.

***  


Peter tried to ignore the pounding in his head as he tried to catch up with Harry but he was still too far away.  


_"Oh no..."_  


He could only watch in horror when someone _else_ got to Harry first, and not just any other superhero, though that would have been bad enough.  


No, it was someone else who wasn’t as understanding, as evidenced by the fact they were ruthlessly beating the crap out of him.  


No, it had to be _Venom._  


The Parker luck strikes again.  


_I’ve heard about this guy. I thought he was West Coast. What the hell is he doing in New York?_  


Peter admittedly didn’t know much about the man… no, _monster,_ other than he probably ought to sue the guy for stealing his whole getup—though while Venom might also be a wall-crawler with a spider on his chest from what Peter had heard this guy was more like the Punisher, at least philosophically speaking—which was very bad news for Harry Osborn. 

***

Venom crouched at the roof’s edge, lifting the green miscreant up by the neck and holding him restrained in a net of black webbing, giving him a look of utmost contempt. ** _“What the FUCK is wrong with you?!”_**  


The man in the goblin mask laughed hysterically “Many things. I’m afraid I’m not right in the brains.”  


**_“We’ll eat your brains!”_** they snarled.  


Just then Spider-man swung in, delivering a devastating kick to Venom’s back.  


**_"SSSSPIDER-MAN?!"_**  


“Ha— _Gobby… Run!_ ”  


**“You’re letting him get away?”** The creature growled, getting back up again. **“We thought you were supposed to be a _hero!_ ”**  


_“I won’t let you hurt him!”_  


**“Then it looks like we have a problem. Because while you quarrel with usss your Goblin friend iss tossing out more bombs! We won’t let you or your _friend_ hurt innocentss!”** Venom snarled before slamming Spider-man into the roof and then bounding away in pursuit of the Goblin.  


“Ow,” Peter groaned as he ignored what was probably a concussion and cracked ribs as he forced himself up again. 

***

 **“Ow,”** Venom groaned as they emerged from the smoking crater mostly whole and already regenerating his wounds. They had relentlessly pursued the maniac in green until he’d thrown another one of those exploding pumpkin things at a crowded New York sidewalk.  


Venom had taken most of the blast, his other forming a shield as they tried to protect the innocents below.  


Naturally, by the time they’d healed the Goblin was long gone.  


They’d almost had him! Venom had felt their claws sink into the goblin’s flesh before the night winds had carried him cackling away again.  


Eddie cursed, he could be anywhere by now.  


**“Aw, _hell._ We’re going to be late for work.”**

***

Spider-man had been a bit delayed when he had to save an entire high school football team that had been knocked off the George Washington Bridge due to the Harry’s reckless flying.  


"Hey, did you ever even get a pilot's license?!"  


A pumpkin bomb lobbed at his face was his only response.  


Spider-man threw out another webline, changing direction and avoiding most of the blast though he felt the heat on his back as he swung away.  


That was _way too close._

***

By the time he finally caught up with Harry, (and he only managed that because he knew where Harry would go, he’d always gone to this park, to this stone bridge every time he was upset, ever since grade school, be it failing grades or not living up to his father’s expectations or being turned down for a date), Harry was there as Peter thought he would be, mask off and visibly rattled. Peter noted with some concern that he was breathing raggedly and clutching against a deep wound in his shoulder.  


That monster’s claws had rent right through his goblin armor.  


“ _Harry…_ " Peter ripped his own mask off and cautiously approached when it appeared that Harry wasn't in any condition to attack again "Uh… Harry… between this new creep and that Punisher guy you might want to skip town for a while,” Peter began flippantly but couldn’t help the actual concern bleeding through.  


“Peter, this is my _home._ ”  


“I know,” Peter sat down beside his troubled friend. “You ever think about moving out?” It couldn’t be at all healthy for Harry, still living in that old house, the ghost of Norman Osborn ever hovering over his shoulder. “I just moved into this really great new place with two other guys—they’re great, my roommates. Well, eccentric, but great. I’d have to clear it with the owner but there might be room for one more? I think you’d like them.”  


“ _I can’t_ … I can’t do that, Peter.” Harry swallowed, “To be honest, you make me sick.”  


Peter flinched as if struck.  


“Peter, I remember. As much as I want to forget, I remember. You’re my best friend AND my worst enemy. You killed my father—”  


_“Harry—”_  


_“I know!_ I know, okay? I know it was an accident! You don't think I don't want to get over it too? I know Norman was a _fucking bastard!_ Hell, I know that better than anyone. But he was my father." Harry swallowed. "You killed my dad. You're my best friend and you killed my dad."  


“Is there anyone you can stay with tonight?”  


Harry shook his head.  


“What about Liz?”  


Harry shifted and looked away. “Liz is mad at me.”  


“Harry… are you using again?”  


Harry gave him a disbelieving look as he squeezed his fingers around the ledge they were sitting on, crushing the brick beneath them. “What do you think, Peter?”  


“Not just the Goblin crap!”  


His friend’s silence was answer enough.  


Peter resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

***

Eddie had indeed arrived late for work. Fortunately, given that they hadn’t fully healed when they arrived at the warehouse, his boss had completely bought his half-assed excuse that he’d been clipped by a car and Eddie had redeemed himself in the eyes of his supervisors by being slightly more than humanly efficient at his job today. 

(Hell, sometimes Eddie wondered if they would even care if he did the job _as Venom_ as long as he stuck to schedule.) 

*** 

Peter dragged himself back to the apartment at 4 a.m. exhausted on every level after a night of fighting (verbally and literally) with his best friend until he’d gotten him checked back into rehab.  


Peter was surprised to find both of his roomies were still awake but Wade didn’t look up when Peter returned, apparently glued to the action unfolding on the TV.  


Good, maybe he could sneak off to his room before his roommies noticed his condition. 

“Guys… _look!_ ” Wade insisted. “Tell me I’m not crazy…”

Eddie snorted at Wade’s remark as he wandered in from the kitchen, chocolate ice cream in hand. “Can’t help you there, Wade.”

“No, look! That’s our neighborhood!” Wade pointed out the news footage of the superhero fight shrewdly. He and Dopinder (well mostly Dopinder) had already ensured that Janelle, the little girl that the Friendly Neighborhood Xenomorph had kidnapped/rescued/dropped into his lap had gotten home safely but now Wade had to wonder about this whole roommate set up. He knew just enough about the story he lived in to sense _something_ was going on with his roommates but due to plot purposes wasn’t quite sure yet… 

***

 ** _{We’re on the TV Eddie!}_** His Other told him excitedly. 

That certainly got Eddie’s attention. 

They gawked at the grainy cellphone footage of his fight with the Goblin and Spider-man.

“Damn, it sounds like I missed all the fun—” Wade began casually. 

“—Shit Pete, _what happened to you?_ ” Eddie cut in. 

And then just like that all eyes were focused on Peter. 

***

Well shit. There went his hopes of not drawing attention to his injuries. He healed fast but evidently not fast enough to be rid of the huge shiner on his face. He had hoped to sneak to his room and let it heal overnight.

“Er… I fell,” Peter cringed even as he said it. He really needed to start coming up with more believable lies. 

“Petey pie,” Wade began dangerously “please don’t insult our intelligence.” 

_“Whose ass do we have to kick?!”_ Eddie growled.

Peter eyed his friends warily. Though they were clearly concerned about him there was just something about their demeanor, the promise of violence, and Eddie’s tone especially just set Peter on edge… It just felt _familiar_ somehow which was especially unsettling because that ran against everything he knew about his friend. Eddie was a gentle giant (at least the Eddie that Peter knew) he was never violent around him… 

Okay, never violent around him save for that one time he got into a fight in grade school when Flash Thompson was being an ass. Though to his credit, Flash seemed to later realize he’d been an ass and apologized and they were kind of okay now. Which was more than alright with Peter, he certainly had enough with vendettas with actual supervillains going on. 

_“No one’s!_ I took care of it. You should see the other guy,” Peter assured them. 

That’s right; Eddie was never violent unless he was protecting him from bullies. But Peter’s problems weren’t exactly schoolyard bullies anymore. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if that had been Venom’s work or Harry’s but Peter certainly didn’t want his friends tangling with either of them.


	6. Gym Rats

“Wade, that’s a _lot_ of cholesterol,” Eddie scolded as they observed Wade eating a _fifth_ microwave burrito. They scowled as they observed their roomies continually making questionable health decisions. “You know what they say, sound mind, sound body.” 

Peter snorted. 

Wade shrugged. “That’s really not the sort of thing I have to worry about.” 

Peter groaned from his spot lounging on the sofa. “Oh, now you’ve done it. Now he’s in “dad friend” mode.”

“You’re cramming all that _crap_ into your body…” 

“Your one to talk, what with all the chocolate—”

Eddie spluttered. _“That’s different!”_

_“How?”_

“We _need_ it.” 

“Yeah, okay. Then I _need_ burritos.” 

“Hey, what about your cheetos, Eddie?” Peter asked innocently, not looking up from his book.

“Yeah, what about your cheetos, Eddie?” Wade mocked. 

“What about them?” Eddie stubbornly sidestepped the subject. “We’re allowed a cheat on occasion.” 

Wade made a big show then of eating his burrito in front of him, complete with exaggerated moaning. 

“Wade, I really don’t care what you do in your own room but please don’t have sex in the living room,” Peter said, completely deadpan, while turning a page of his book. 

Eddie frowned. “ _That’s it!_ You’re both coming with me to the gym on Saturday.” 

“Wait, why am I getting dragged into this?” Peter most certainly did not whine. 

“Peter… I haven’t seen you ever do _anything_ other than sit around here—” 

“Just because you haven’t _seen_ it…” Peter protested while trying not to laugh. The very notion that he was out of shape was absurd. After all, web-swinging was great cardio. 

“Don’t tell me you’re running triathlons in your free time?” asked Wade, the traitor. 

“Well actually…”

“There, you see? He’s obviously Daredevil or something at night,” Wade joked. 

Peter laughed nervously. “You really think I’m jogging all the way to Hell’s Kitchen?” 

_“Peter…”_ Eddie began, exasperated. 

“Fine! _I’ll come!_ ” Peter snapped. 

“We’re glad to hear it,” Eddie said while radiating a disgusting smugness at having got his way. 

_Great,_ Peter thought, _now I just have to be careful not to blow my secret identity. No sweat. Easy peasy… Shit. What is normal for a typical geek to bench press anyway? I am so boned._

***

“I don’t know if I can do this, guys—I’m afraid I look too sexy in my gym shorts and no one will be able to do anything while I’m around…” 

“Don’t worry,” said Peter, “I’m sure everyone will be too busy staring at Eddie’s mullet to notice.” 

Wade then snickered juvenilely when Eddie tied his hair back into a tail to avoid it getting caught in the exercise equipment. 

“Ha ha. _No,_ we booked the gym for the next two hours. We have it all to ourselves.” 

“Oh… well in that case…”

Wade went back into the locker room to remove the odd series of wraps he’d dressed himself in. 

Eddie felt a twinge of guilt upon realizing he’d been trying to hide his skin. 

“Oh, Peter? You do realize we _have_ to keep the mullet now. Because now it’s not just a fashion statement…” 

Peter sighed. “…I suppose it’s for a good cause.” 

Anything that might help their housemate to feel more comfortable in public…

“Maybe we should work on growing a beard too…” Eddie murmured speculatively. 

Peter rolled his eyes. “Why? So you can look like angry, fugitive Captain America?”

“Hey, Captain America is hero!” 

_Captain America once dropped a staircase on me,_ Peter fumed but he couldn’t exactly mention that. 

Wade emerged then from the locker room wearing Barbie pink gym shorts and a pale pink Hello Kitty tank top. Eddie, Wade noted, was shirtless beef and just wearing basic black gym shorts with white trim and Peter had committed the fashion crime of wearing a blue t-shirt with red shorts. 

“Alright, let’s go, Hair Metal.”

 _“Did you just—?”_

***

About a half hour later Eddie was bench pressing, well, quite a lot and casually looking like he was planning someone’s murder, Wade was on the treadmill, earphones in and singing “Hips Don’t Lie” out of tune, and Peter was still trying to work out… well _literally,_ (because he still hadn’t worked out just what would be normal for him to lift and this was already an utter disaster.) 

***

It was supposed to be a peaceful day at the gym (or as peaceful as it could be for him) but when had things ever gone as they were supposed to with the ole Parker Luck in play? 

***

“Seriously? Who robs a _gym?_ ” Peter murmured in disbelief. 

When the danger had come literally crashing through the wall like a soft drink advert (creating a massive hole and reducing parts of the wall to shreds and splinters in his wake) Peter had reacted instinctively—the off-duty Spider-man had grabbed Wade and the two of them were taking temporary cover behind a bench. 

In retrospect it seemed inevitable that their gym party would be crashed by a guy in a cybernetic rat fursuit trying to rob them, because that was just the New York that Peter knew. 

Well, this was one of those times where having a secret identity really blew. 

As Spider-man he could take this guy with ease but “nerdy Peter Parker” wasn’t supposed to be able to tangle with enhanced humans, even supervillains as lame as the Rat-Man here. Maybe it would have been believable if Eddie was there too and they could have tackled him together but of course his friend had stepped out to use the restroom moments before the rat attack. 

Parker luck strikes again.

Unfortunately the villain with its lashing tail was between them and the exit which, again, wouldn’t be a problem for Spider-man but “Peter Parker” wasn’t supposed to be a star gymnast. 

Dammit, there was no choice! If he wanted to protect his friends he’d have to fight the Ratman out of costume… 

“Wait, Wade, what are you doing?” Peter hissed when he noticed Wade desperately digging through Eddie’s bag until he found the cheetos and then leapt over the bench exposing himself. 

_Well, not literally. I didn’t flash the Rat._

**_++That might work too…++_ **

_Shut up, Yellow._

“Uh… rats like cheese, right? We’ll draw him out,” Wade very audibly stage-whispered while waving the cheetos in front of the very annoyed looking Cyber Rat. 

Before that ill-conceived plan could get any further Eddie returned from the bathroom and upon seeing the situation wasted no time smacking the nearest dumbbell into the Ratman’s ratty face. 

“Hey, you guys okay?” 

“Uh… Eddie? Just how much does that weigh?” Peter asked sometime after picking up his jaw off the floor. 

Sure, Eddie was jacked but surely… _surely_ that was more than a normal human should be able to easily swing around over their head. Never mind the fact that he’d just K.O.ed a supervillain—which though rather lame in costume and concept was exactly what the Ratman _was_ . As ill-conceived as the idea was (of a guy putting on a Rat fursuit and committing crimes) the guy was clearly an enhanced human and for Eddie to have just knocked him out like that… 

Eddie shrugged. “Adrenaline,” they bullshitted by way of explanation (Eddie, of course, knew that there had hardly been enough adrenaline involved to make a meal for his Other.) They glared at Wade with ill-concealed annoyance. “Hey, are those my cheetos?”

***

Wade’s afternoon drifted by in a red haze of agony; he had to cut back on his pain meds considerably considering he didn’t know how long he’d need the remainder to last. This latest job of his was supposed to be the windfall that set him up financially but he could already see that wasn’t going to work out. 

The whole Rat Man incident, while overall ridiculous and ultimately not even a real threat, it had really hit home the fact that he didn’t want Peter or Eddie to get hurt and that any potential payout wasn’t worth losing his new friends over. And when Weasel contacted him that afternoon, having uncovered something about the people who had _actually_ hired him, well that had only reinforced Wade’s decision. 

Getting hired through an intermediary was hardly unheard of in their line of work—it was the smart thing to do really—he’d only asked Weasel to uncover the dirt on the actual client as par the course in case they tried to not pay them or double-cross them later because people who hired contract killers generally tended not to be model citizens. 

So the problem wasn’t that Weasel had uncovered naughty stuff in the client’s background, it was that _something_ was so fucking big it had forced the hacker to go into hiding. Wade cursed upon reviewing the data packet Weasel had sent him and another message from said client had Wade impulsively tossing his (only just recently repaired) cellphone into the East River. Wade cursed again when he only remembered afterwards that he had over six hundred photos of Bea Arthur saved on there and… would this mean he had to start over with catching _Pokemon?_

After trying, and failing, to find Weasel, Wade had returned to the apartment to find Eddie had crashed and was napping on the couch while the TV played at low volume. Fortunately it wasn’t a Thom Cruz movie. Yet for some reason Wade was still on edge. 

**_++It would be so fucking easy to snap his neck right now… ++_** Yellow intruded. 

_No, Yellow, we decided we wouldn’t do that. And Eddie wasn’t the target anyway!_

**_++Who said anything about a target? He was hogging up the shower practically all afternoon!++_** Yellow exaggerated, **_++Used up all the hot water! You know it was him! ++_**

_Hey… We’re **not** killing them! In fact, we are going to cross some **really nasty people** to keep from killing our roommates. We decided this like an hour ago, remember? _

_**_++Hot water,++_** Yellow moaned petulantly. _

_Wade just rolled his eyes and told the voices in his head to “Get fucked.”_

_**_++Skin hurts!++_ ** _

__It always hurts, dumbass!_ _

**_++Hot water helps with pain…++_**

_And that’s OUR problem, not theirs. Yeah, it hurts. But that doesn’t give us license to be an asshole._

**_++Where would we get such a license? It sounds awesome!++_**

_…Shut up._

**_++Did we not get it renewed? Is that the problem?++_**

_We’ll just make sure to get to the shower first next time, okay Yellow? We’re not going to kill anybody today. Unless we come across Rat-guy again. Then all bets are off._

Wade reached out and felt (and appreciated) the impressive wall of muscle when he tapped Eddie on the shoulder. 

_“Whazzit?”_

Eddie was confused and also a bit murderous at being woken up and… something strange flitted across Eddie’s face. The black comforter he was wrapped in also shifted oddly, almost like it was a living thing, before Eddie saw it was just Wade and not a threat so the black mass resumed being just a blanket once more. 

Wade blinked and the moment passed. 

“What’cha need?” Eddie slurred; speech heavy with sleep. 

“Sorry, but don’t you have work tonight?” 

“Oh, no. Got the night off.” 

“Oh, sorry.” 

Eddie just blinked in confusion, mind still heavy with sleep. 

“Just… I wanted to say, sorry… about earlier. I got you more cheetos while I was out. Picked up some milk too. The fridge was pretty empty.” 

“Oh, _the cheetos._ ” To be perfectly honest they’d already forgotten about that. While a bit annoying that Wade took them without asking, they hardly found it worth holding a grudge over. Back in the San Francisco Underground they’d shared resources all the time. “Thanks, dude.” 

“So, uh… exciting TV, huh?” 

They looked up and saw the tv still running at low volume. 

Eddie shrugged “… sorry, about that. It helps me sleep sometimes.” 

That wasn’t the whole story of course. 

Eddie had found that his symbiote was an avid TV addict. 

He had also found that his symbiote sometimes took control of his body while he slept. 

So Eddie often let it watch TV while he clocked out, figuring his companion couldn’t get into too much trouble from the couch… 

At some point it must have switched channels from the cooking show to a telenovela but Eddie could tell his Other was still watching with rapt fascination. 

“It’s no problem,” Wade insisted. “Have you seen Pete?” 

“Studying last we saw. He mentioned going to bed early. Shower’s yours if you want it.” 

“Thanks,” Wade said, flatly. “I’m going to go take a shower now.” 

“Yeah, okay.” 

Eddie was dozing again when there was a sudden shriek from the bathroom that had his Other hissing at the noise. 

” _…Ewww!_ What’s this gross green slime in the bathroom?” Wade yelled a moment later. 

Eddie winced when he realized that in his exhaustion he’d neglected to clean up properly. “Oh, you don’t have to do that. We’ll take care of that.” 

A look of understanding flashed across Wade’s face. “…Are you sick, Eddie?” 

Wade thought he recognized some of the obscure stuff in the medicine cabinet. Shit, all that health nut stuff Eddie kept pushing on himself and others… this was Eddie’s version of the Cancer World Tour wasn’t it? 

“…Yeah… but not the way you’re thinking,” they insisted. “We’ll clean it up.” 

Wade watched his roommate go with open concern. 


	7. The Unholy Alliance

Wade, after finally getting his shower, lounged around in a fluffy pink bathrobe reading (or pretending to read) from his Spanish dictionary and every so often when he thought they weren’t looking he’d glance over with obvious concern. 

Eddie knew that look—Wade wasn’t about to let this go. 

They also knew from experience that it would probably be better just to tell him now in a controlled manner rather than let him get curious, find out on his own, and then have him catch them in the act of ripping criminals apart. That was harder to explain away. 

Eddie sighed. They supposed they really did owe Wade an explanation about what was going on with them, especially after making sure that girl got home safely after the Goblin fiasco. At the same time, it felt _wrong_ to tell Wade before he told Peter but… 

They really weren’t ready to tell Peter. _Not yet._

 _This… this could be a practice run,_ they decided, if Wade took it well, they’d consider telling Peter what had happened to them—or that’s what Eddie told himself as he began their confession. 

“Thanks, by the way. For helping with the girl last night,” Eddie began by just diving into potential disaster as had become habit after bonding with an alien adrenaline junkie. 

“Oh, it was no problem I… Wait. _How did you know about…?_ ” 

Wade, of course, was instantly on his guard. “Are you saying that was _you_ with the fangs and the tentacle dildos?” 

Eddie sighed and scratched the back of their neck. “Yeah. That was us, uh… _Me._ Wait a minute— _tentacle dildos?_ ” 

“Oh come on, don’t tell me you never thought of it.” 

Wade took Eddie’s silence as confirmation. 

“Not judging, man. That’s pretty sweet!” 

Eddie was just taken aback by how chill Wade was about the whole thing. To be perfectly honest they had been bracing themselves for screaming, maybe some attempted murder, and having to quickly explain themselves. Wade seemed largely unconcerned that he was sharing an apartment with a carnivorous alien, and overall was just curious. 

It was a pleasant change. 

Maybe they were worrying over nothing about telling Peter. Surely Peter would understand… 

The anxiety that idea caused hit like a physical sensation, a burning in his chest and throat that could not be soothed by his Other. 

They were getting way ahead of themselves. 

They should focus on the now. Besides, there was still plenty of time and plenty of ways for this to go horribly wrong, or for Wade to freak out on them. 

One confession at a time. 

“ _Sooooo_ … uh, what’s the dealio?” Wade asked, gawking at them like they were some alien species (which in all fairness _they were._ ) “Was it a full moon or what?”

“Uh… technically, we’re always like that,” They said, letting the symbiote cover his right arm in demonstration. (And Wade, amusingly, jumped back at that.) “We’re a symbiotic union. It’s just, uh… you know, mostly inside me at the moment.”

Wade quickly overcame his initial shock to snicker immaturely at that particular turn of phrase. 

Eddie sighed again. Perhaps he should have just told Peter. Surely Pete could handle this conversation more maturely… 

Eddie was then beset by the sudden flashbacks of the grade school astronomy fieldtrip where the words “Uranus” and “asteroids” had set Pete (and to be fair, most of the younger kids… okay, _all the kids_ to be perfectly honest) into a giggling fit. 

But surely, _surely_ Peter had matured since then... 

“…It’s under my skin and mimics my clothes.”

“Wait, are you technically _naked_ right now?” Wade asked with disturbing glee. 

Eddie sighed. “Uh… wearing clothes here? So no, we’re _not_ naked.” 

“Clothes _made out of the symbiote._ ” 

“Which are still _clothes,_ ” Eddie insisted. 

“It’s a _freakin’ lifeform!_ If I walked around town naked but wore a large snake that covered my naughty bits I’d still get arrested!” 

“…Do you speak from experience?” Eddie rolled his eyes. “It’s not the same and you know it.” 

“ _Motherfucker!_ You’re _wearing_ an alien!”

Maybe Wade wasn’t taking it as well as they initially thought. He’d just had a delayed reaction. 

“Are you quite done?”

“No! No, I’m not done! Honestly, I have so many questions I don’t know where to start!” 

Eddie waved a black clawed hand. “ _Ask._ ” 

“ _Fine!_ Uh… well….” Wade spluttered, clearly a bit flustered by this recent turn of events.“I’ve noticed you use the royal we when talking?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I’m guessing that has more to do with your murder tapeworm and less to do with any aspirations of being a fashion diva?” 

Eddie snorted. 

“Yeah, on account that there are two of us and uh, well Eddie is a ‘he’ and my Other is an alien with no concept of human gender and reproduces asexually. Er… we, uh _Eddie—_ ” 

“That sounds confusing.” 

Eddie shook his head. “You have no idea.”

 ** _++Oh, the irony.++_**

_Well, yes, I do have an inkling of what that's like on account of hearing voices._

“ _Eddie_ admits that we sometimes call the symbiote a “he” because well, calling it an “it” kinda feels dehumanizing…” 

“But it’s not—” 

“Yeah, yeah, we know, it’s not human. That’s beside the point. The point is we’re a symbiotic union, meaning we’re _partners_ and treat each other with mutual respect. And my Other really doesn’t care which pronouns we use beyond, well… my Other’s gets much of its  
sense of identity, it’s sense of self from mimicking me—” 

“ _O-kay…_ That’s not creepy at all.” 

Eddie blinked. “…You’re seriously _just_ creeped out by us _now?_ Not the fangs? Or the tentacles? Or… Just that my Other has identity issues and is a _fast learner?_ ” 

“Well, when you put it that way… It’s just… are you sure you’re really still _you_ and not just like, I don’t know, a _Shoggoth_ wearing an Eddie suit?”

“No, no. We’ve had those same concerns but… You still don’t understand. We’re _not_ the same person we were before—or the same _alien_ for that matter. Bonding changes things. We’re not Eddie. We’re not the symbiote. We’re _us,_ we’re Venom _all the time,_ but we’re also the sum of our parts. And that’s good enough for us. Okay?” 

“…Okay. So uh, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but like, you said the alien is genderless and you share an identity…”

“And?” 

“So, I guess what I’m getting at is, uh, you don’t have to answer this but… you got any preferred pronouns?” 

“Yeah, we use he /they pronouns.”

“Gotcha my dude.” 

“Next question?” 

“So, um…? Why me?” 

Eddie stared back, for a moment, uncomprehending. 

“Why tell _me_ all this? And why come to me with the kid last night?” 

Eddie rubbed his face in his hands. He supposed he owed Wade an explanation. “Uh, well… You were better equipped to handle it than we were. You might have noticed, but Venom is more built for mauling than babysitting. As for the kid, well, to be perfectly honest…” 

“You were going to hand her off to Peter, weren’t you?” 

“Well, yeah. But we figured you were trustworthy enough.” 

Wade, for once, was rendered speechless. 

“Please don’t tell Peter.” 

“What, about the rescue?” Wade asked, perplexed. 

“No, about _all of it._ We’ll tell him. Just... not yet, okay? We’re not even sure _how._ ” 

“Why not just go up to him like you did with me?” 

“Yeah. But you met us as we are _now._ Peter, well… he was Eddie’s friend. From _Before._ We’re just afraid he won’t understand and… we can’t face that rejection, Wade. We just _can’t._ ” 

“Of course, bro. Of course. I gotcha. Thank you…” 

_“Hm?”_

“For trusting me.” 

That was a rare experience in itself. 

And another superhero… sorta (like he was a superhero… sorta), was his roommate. What were the odds of that? 

Then again, given what Weasel said they were up against, maybe…

This was a stupid idea. But then, they’d trusted him, and they deserved to know. 

Wade shifted nervously. “There’s something I should tell you as well. You see, well… I’m not sure how to expl—gah! _Fuck it!_ Just, _Peter’s in danger,_ ” they finally just blurted it out. 

_“WHAT?!”_ Eddie demanded, his agitation showing in the symbiote whose tentacles flowed freely down his muscular arms. 

“—Someone wants him dead,” Wade continued quickly. “Before you ask I don’t know why and I’ve got people working on the exact names, nature, and addresses of the _who_ but… just so you know, I have no intention of letting that happen.” 

“Well, you don’t have to worry anymore, Wade. **We can protect you both.** ” 

“Eddie… You know how you’re kinda a superhero? Well uh… I’m kinda a superhero too. Ever heard of Deadpool?”

 **“Deadpool? _The mercenary?”_**

“Uh… yeah. That’s kinda how I found out…”

Wade winced and threw up his hands defensively at the inhuman growl that followed. 

Eddie clearly understood what that meant as he reflexively transformed into an angry, slobbering beast.

“Not gonna hurt him, okay?” Wade spoke quickly and tried to ignore the claws at his throat. Given his healing factor, Wade very much doubted Venom would be successful at any attempt to “unalive” him but Wade was off the clock and getting mauled by the symbiote certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. “Peter… he’s my friend too, okay? Roomies are friends, not hits! _Look,_ I don’t care who I have to cross. Peter’s a good friend. And you’re a good friend and you’re his friend too, and you’ve known him for longer so… uh, _I thought you should know,_ ” Wade finished lamely. 

**“Thank you… for telling us.”** Wade wiped the sweat from his brow as the monster released him and then took a step back, making a visible effort to control their rage. 

Wade swallowed, “No problem. Eddie… _Venom,_ I promise. _I promise_ —I’ll keep Peter safe.” 

Eddie, now Venom nodded. **“We’ll protect him. _Together._ ”**

They shook on that. 

“Hey, uh… hypothetically speaking of course, but on account of you keeping a lethal, flesh eating alien on your person—which is certainly violating the whole no-weapons ban house rule..." 

**" _A symbiote isn't a weapon,_ "** Venom growled softly, mind momentarily drifting back to the screams of their dying offspring as they burnt the Life Foundation to the ground. 

"It's lethal though, right, Lethal Protector? What I'm getting at is I should keep my swords in my room, you know. Just in case? They're well-concealed and it would help with the whole protecting-Peter thing and if anyone asks, they’re for an anime con and…” 

Venom sighed. **“They’re already in your room, aren’t they? They’re well-concealed?”**

“Of course. And I clean them regularly so no one can prove I ever unalived anyone with them.” 

**“…Fine.”**

“...Really? Can I keep the guns too then?” 

**“No.”**

“Oh, come on, they don’t even hurt you!” 

**“Yeah, but they could hurt _Peter._ "**

“Uh… so could swords.”

 **“Do you _want us_ to take them away?”**

“You’d have to find them first.”

 **“We’ll find them, Wade. Our tentacles can explore every crevice—”**

“ _Kinky._ ” 

Even though he couldn't see his pupils behind the blotches of white, Wade got the sense that Eddie was rolling his eyes. 

**“Wade… this is serious. Keeping guns around would be harder to explain away as a costume accessory. We’d rather not go back to prison on account of your carelessness.”**

“Come on, you’re really cramping my protecting abilities here.” 

The monster glared at him. **"If anything we are being too lenient. _You accepted a hit on Peter!_ "**

"I'm not hitting on Peter, I mean... gah! _You know what I mean!_ " 

**"You should consider yourself fortunate that you still draw breath."**

Wade barked out a laugh. "Hardly. Look my guy I don't have any claws or tentacle dildos of my own. My power is basically being shit at dying. And yeah, I could function as a meat shield for a while but that doesn't help if they get past me... 

**“Fine, you can have _one_ gun,”** they relented **“ _If,_ and we mean _if_ you can get the proper documentation—"**

" _Pleeease,_ I'm not a rank amateur." 

Of course none of his guns were traceable and without a doubt the Sister Margaret's cleanup team was better than Venom's... assuming he even had one. 

Venom aggressively pointed a clawed finger in his face **" _Don’t fuck it up._ And if you _ever_ do anything that endangers Peter—”**

“You’ll eviscerate me. Yeah, got it the first time, Big Guy.” 

***

Peter couldn’t shake a general sense of foreboding. 

He wasn’t sure why, aside from the incident with Harry and Venom the other night things had actually been pretty quiet lately. 

Perhaps _too quiet._

Usually there’d be some crimes to stop even as he made his morning commute to college but he hadn’t seen so much as a purse snatcher as of late. 

Maybe his Spider-sense was going haywire. 

He never saw anyone but it felt like he was being watched, _all the time._

Peter unconsciously quickened his steps; he couldn’t wait to get back to the relative safety of the apartment. 

Even if some of the oppressive feeling probably could be attributed to Eddie and Wade. 

Ever since coming home bruised from battle with Venom and the Goblin the other day either or both of his roommates had made it a habit of casually stopping by after his classes to walk him home. It was like they’d taken a blood oath to protect him with their lives or something. 

It would be amusing and perhaps more welcome if he wasn’t, well, _him._

If he wasn’t Spider-man. 

Hell, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get away from them and act as Spider-man. In fact Peter often didn’t get a chance to sneak away from them until late at night after they’d gone to bed which was almost not worth the effort. He could have been sleeping. Instead he’d spent yet another fruitless night of not stopping crime on account of not being able to find any. 

Which brought him back to the city being too quiet. 

It was unsettling.

And while Spidey, naturally, found more action than when he’d just been strolling around as Peter Parker he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong. 

It was like all the petty thieves had up and decided to skip town.


	8. Tangled Webs

As usual, Peter was in a pretty good mood after Dr. Connor’s biology class—his class was engaging and it was clear the good doctor really knew his stuff. Dr. Connors was probably his favorite teacher (well, his new favorite, after Dr. Octavius went nuts)—even with the professor’s scaly problem factored in. 

(Peter seriously hoped this didn’t become more of a pattern though. He didn’t think he could survive college if all of his teachers turned into supervillains.) 

It was a shame his good mood wouldn’t last given he’d have to interact with Jameson—his free period after Dr. Connor’s class was the best time to swing by the Bugle—but it was nice to get paid for his Selfies. 

_“Parker!”_ Jameson barked as soon as he walked in the door.

Peter sighed, _here it comes._

“Got a new assignment for you. I want you to get me pictures of Venom!”

_“What?!”_

“He’s like Bigfoot! Or the Mothman—”

“We actually got some pics of Mothman,” Robbie cut in. 

“Whatever! No one can get a decent picture of him! And you always manage to get pictures of Spider-man. I’ll give you an additional five… no ten percent your usual rate.” 

Peter swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat and idly wondered if Jameson was now _trying_ to have him killed. Yet, at the same time he couldn’t help but note that was the closest thing to a compliment that Jameson had ever paid him. 

“Mr. Jameson—”

“Well, what are you still sitting here for? Go out and get me my pictures! I expect them on my desk by the end of the week. _Chop chop._ ” 

Well, _shit,_ Peter thought as he left the Bugle, dejected. 

How the hell would he even _find_ Venom? 

Peter shuddered as he opened the door to the apartment. If he _ever_ encountered that monster again it would be too soon. 

“Oh hey Pete… “ 

“Hey, Eddie.” 

Eddie frowned and paused his game; setting aside the controller. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Eddie could admit that he wasn’t the most sensitive guy and they could sometimes be an idiot when it came to understanding other people. So he gave a silent thanks to his Other now, for without the symbiote’s empathic abilities he was sure he would have completely missed that anything was wrong. 

Sure, Peter was being quiet and that itself wasn’t unusual—he did get quiet sometimes; especially if he was tired, or thinking intensely, like on some science problem that went way over Eddie’s head. 

But as it was his Other communicated it to him passively in pulses and as bursts of sickly yellow colors behind his eyelids and they knew—Peter was clearly agitated about something. 

Peter heaved a resigned sigh. “Ole Jolly Jonah just gave me an impossible assignment, that’s all.”

“That sucks, dude. Wanna be my player 2?” 

Peter forced a smile (a pale imitation to the real thing but it was something) and sat next to his friend. “Sure.” 

They were soon engrossed in shooting up bad guys. Eddie snorted in amusement when Peter landed a kill shot, blowing a guy’s head clean off, and the game rewarded them with graphics of a particularly gruesome fountain of blood. 

“So… uh… you’re impossible assignment? Anything we can do to help?” 

Peter sighed. “I doubt it.” He wouldn’t want his friends getting involved (or eaten) on account of him in any case. “Sorry…” 

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Wade announced his presence as he emerged from the kitchen, microwave burrito in hand. 

(Seriously, did he ever eat anything else?) 

Peter sighed again. “It’s _Jameson._ ” 

“Wait—let me guess, _‘get me pictures of Spider-man!’”_ Wade barked out a surprisingly accurate impersonation despite, to Peter’s knowledge, having never met the man. “But you just gave him some, didn’t you?” 

“Actually, he wants Venom this time.” 

Eddie froze, resulting in his character getting impaled onscreen. _“W-what?!”_

Wade had a most disturbing grin on his face. _“Really?_ What a coincidence! It just so happens that we know—”

 _“Excuse us,”_ Eddie said, deceptively calm, right before leaping over the couch to grab Wade, covering his mouth and his indignant muffled protests as they dragged him out of the room with a speed and agility that was surely beyond human. 

Peter blinked and stared at the cushion where his friend had been a moment before. 

_I’m not imagining it, am I?_

***

“Wade, _what the hell?!”_ Eddie hissed. 

“What? I’m being a good wingman!” 

“What? _No!_ That is not—” 

“You said you _wanted_ to tell him!”

“Yeah… but… _not now!_ ” 

“Then _when,_ Eddie?” 

Eddie buried his hands in his hair, clutching his head in clear distress. “We don’t know, alright?” 

“Let’s be honest here, do you ever plan to—”

They both startled when Peter knocked softly on the hallway door. 

Peter couldn’t help but be curious when both of his roommates had sequestered themselves in the hallway and began whispering suspiciously. 

“Uh….guys? What’s going…?”

“It’s just that Eddie’s—”

Wade made another series of muffled, indignant noises when Eddie hastily covered his mouth again. 

_“We can find Venom for you!”_ Eddie shouted over him quickly. 

“Smooth,” Wade said once he’d broken free. 

_“Shut up,”_ they hushed him. 

Peter blinked in confusion. “You can…”

“Yeah… we, uh… we’ve seen him hanging out at the old church, you know, the one over by the school—”

“Wait, do you mean Our Lady of Saints?” 

It was decommissioned years ago, it had been overgrown with weeds even when they’d hung out there as kids, but for whatever reason the derelict church was never taken down. 

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“…You still go there?” 

“…Sometimes.” 

“And you’ve _seen Venom there?!_ ” 

_“Yeah!”_ Eddie insisted. They fidgeted under the weight of Peter’s incredulous stare. “Uh… he’s harmless.”

Peter made a disbelieving noise. 

“ _Mostly_ harmless? He uh… just hangs out on the roof, really.”

“What’s he doing _there?_ ” Peter wondered aloud. 

“Brooding, probably,” Eddie answered offhandedly. 

Peter blinked in surprise at the answer and was even more confused by Wade’s knowing look. 

“For that matter what are _you_ still doing there?” 

“Uh… also brooding.” 

“…” 

“What? It’s a good brooding spot,” they said defensively. 

***

It appeared that Eddie was right, at least on this—Venom was there and he did indeed appear to be brooding. 

Peter was wrought with anxiety as he approached the derelict church. He was not eager to have another confrontation with the monster. Maybe if he was lucky he could just go in, take the pictures, and get out. 

(But when had the Parker luck ever make things go in his favor?) 

Peter was all the more nervous due to the strange and unexplained behavior of his roommates. 

Eddie seemed to be avoiding him for some reason and when Peter had left for the evening he’d ultimately had to ditch Wade who’d been very insistent on going with him. 

_“Wade, look… I’d rather not disclose my methods.”_

_“Petey, I’m not after your camera techniques…”_

_Peter sighed. “I know that.”_

_“I just want to make sure you’re okay.”_

_“I’ll be okay, I promise,”_ Peter had insisted. 

And hoped that Venom didn’t make him a liar. 

He’d done some research on Venom, a.k.a. The Lethal Protector, a.k.a. The Demon of San Francisco and had discovered that the monster had a surprisingly positive reputation out in California. Despite killing and maybe even _eating people_ (that seemed to be a recurring theme in every one of his searches, if you were naughty Venom ate you) the press out west tended to focus on the children it had saved and on the monster’s status as a cryptid folk hero. 

(If only Jameson was so kind to _him._ ) 

More usefully, Peter had also discovered that Venom was widely known to be vulnerable to fire and sonic attacks. Being a broke college student he did not really having the means at the moment to acquire a Vibranium sonic gun that had been suggested or even just a simple flame thrower so he’d improvised, bringing along a cigarette lighter and an aerosol can, just in case. Peter doubted very much that that would stop the monster but he hoped that it would at least give him a head start. 

So Peter was ready as he could be, he had his camera, his “Venom repellant Spider-spray” stashed safely within easy reach in a utility belt with too many pouches that he’d “borrowed” from Wade. (Which Peter took as his right given he’d cleaned up the clothes that were draped everywhere over a chair in the TV room again. Seriously, Wade was such a slob! Eddie never had this problem! And why, oh why was it _pants_ and not a shirt or a jacket—on second thought, he did not want to know.) 

***

Venom did indeed appear to be brooding. 

They weren’t moving, just crouched in a highly visibly manner on top of the bell tower (which was derelict, just like the rest of the church and the actual bell had been sold for scrap long ago; a fact that he and Eddie had discovered with great disappointment the day they managed to get up to the second floor.) 

It was the perfect money shot to give to Jameson. 

Peter got off multiple shots with his camera but afterwards, well… 

Peter debated on whether or not to engage. The assignment was just for “pictures of Venom” after all, and given the one-sided nature of their last “fight,” he really didn’t want to have to face the monster again. But then he had a Responsibility(TM) and, regardless of public opinion, he couldn’t, in good conscience ignore the maniac who was terrorizing his city, especially if it was true that Venom was actually _eating people_ —then he really did need to be stopped. 

Peter just wished that, for once, the responsibility didn’t fall on him. 

Sometimes his life really did suck. 

Peter sighed and set up his camera for action mode and Spider-man landed on the roof of Our Lady of Saints church. 

It was an odd place for Venom to choose. It almost seemed like a violation of some kind.

The derelict church had been his and Eddie’s hideaway when they were kids. 

Such a place shouldn’t become a rest stop for monsters, with the exception of the ones out of childhood imagination. 

***

**_“Idiot._ We… _I_ am such an _idiot!_ ”**

**_{Eddie?}_ **

**“Why did I have to pick the Church?! He’ll _know?!_ ” **

**_{Was a long time ago, right Eddie? Before we bonded?}_ **

**“Yes, love.”**

It was an unconscious decision, really, to choose the derelict church where he and Peter used to play as kids. The best Eddie could figure it was because, well, they kind of _wanted_ to get caught.

Because, really, they wanted to tell Peter but weren’t sure how and if Peter just _saw_ … well, then at least he’d know.

Dammit, this was a disaster in the making. 

**_{Peter is down there, right?}_**

**“Somewhere, yeah.”**

**_{Why don’t we just go down and tell him? No more liesss.}_**

**“…You’re right, love,”** Eddie sighed, **“Of course you’re right.”**

They were about to do just that but before they could, they felt a new presence alight upon the roof. 

“Oh, I know I am,” said a familiar voice (too familiar), “But that was awfully forward of you. At least buy me dinner first.” 

**_“Ssspider-man?!”_** they hissed indignantly. 

How was it possible for any one man to be that obnoxious? 

And they thought they knew obnoxious. 

(They lived with Wade, after all.) 

Spider-man was evidently a friend of Peter’s. Or at the very least Peter knew the costumed hero well-enough that Peter managed to get exclusive photos of him for the Bugle. 

They’d forgotten this when they body-slammed the wall-crawler earlier in their pursuit of the Goblin. 

Of course that might not have made a difference—the Spider got between him and his prey. Just the same, Venom had no quarrel with the Spider now and they _really_ didn’t want to get into a fight with Spider-man tonight, at least not where Peter might be watching. 

Perhaps the Spider was here because he was also looking out for Peter? That made the most sense if the rumors were true and Peter did know Spider-man. 

Venom supposed they could respect that.

Still… 

**_“Go away,”_** Venom hissed again, tongue flicking out like a snake’s. 

***

 _Okay, I probably only have one shot at this._

Part of Peter cringed at what he was about to do. Really, it didn’t seem very sporting, or fair… 

_He eats people!_ Peter sternly reminded himself. It’s just… he didn’t like resorting to such methods. He wasn’t the Punisher, he sure as hell wasn’t Venom, he was a _friendly_ neighborhood Spider-man and this plan … wasn’t very friendly. He wasn’t really comfortable with a move this brutal—but then he remembered that this guy threatened to eat Harry’s brain. 

**“Look… we don’t want to fight you.”**

“Good to know,” Spider-man said before igniting the aerosol spray and aiming it at the monster’s head. 

There was a sickening pop and the smell of burning flesh and Peter had to fight his stomach not to ralph right there. 

The creature roared in pain but a moment later emerged from the flames, seemingly undamaged and countering the spray of fire, having somehow erected a large black shield with white spider emblazoned across it appearing out of his left arm.

***

 **“Really? _Is that all you’ve got?”_** Venom snarled as his other worked to repair their burned flesh. Of course, it had hurt them but they weren’t about to let the Spider know that. 

They feinted left, swiping their claws, distracting the Spider while a tendril of the symbiote got in close and knocked the aerosol can out of his hand. The can clanked loudly as it tumbled off the roof. The Spider made a sound of despair but remained in a fighting crouch, brandishing the cigarette lighter against them. 

**“What is this lighter bullshit? We’re insulted! At least bring a proper flame thrower next time,”** Venom scoffed, overpowering and arresting the hero’s movements with his tendrils. The pathetic little flame was snuffed out when the lighter fell from the Spider’s grip.

Venom kicked it away. 

To Venom’s confusion, the Spider hissed in pain when Venom’s tendrils constricted slightly around his wrists, they didn’t think they were gripping him all that hard… it was then that his other relayed to him that the Spider was injured and Venom realized he must have burned himself too with the stupid can trick. 

_Serves you right, dumbass._

Still, they loosened their grip slightly, nonetheless. 

_(He’s Peter’s friend. Remember? We can’t… we hurt Peter’s friend.)_

**“We’re gonna let you go now, okay? Are you gonna attack us again?”**

Spider-man was quiet but reluctantly shook his head no. 

Venom released him.

And Spider-man immediately attacked them again. 

Of _course_ he did. 

(Hell, it was just like when Eddie and Peter used to play tag here and Eddie would ask for a break and Peter would _immediately_ — the little _cheat_ …)

Venom shook their head and forced themselves to focus on the battle. 

This place was doing weird things to them. 

***

 **“Have you no respect? This is hallowed ground!”**

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Peter couldn’t help but snort at that. It reminded him too much of the old Highlander TV series that he and his roomies had binge-watched the other day. 

**“Really, we have no quarrel with you,”** Venom insisted as they caught the Spider’s punch. **“It’s the teeth, right? People always get a bit unnerved by our dentation.”**

Under the mask Peter rolled his eyes. “It’s not the teeth, Venom.” 

**“Look… we don’t want to fight you right now. Can’t we just have a civil conversation?”**

“I don’t know, can we?” he snapped, freeing his fist from the creature’s grip and leaping away to regard his opponent from higher up on the bell tower. “You slammed me into a building. _Twice._ ” 

**_“Twice?”_** The monster repeated in obvious confusion. 

They considered the near-instinctive urge to crawl up after Spider-jerk but then sternly reminded themselves that this was just what they had asked for, a civil conversation and that they really weren’t looking for a fight. 

Venom tried (and no doubt failed) to look non-threatening as they crouched on the roof below the Spider. No, without a doubt they looked like what they were—a predator that had spotted, and was intensely studying, interesting prey. 

“Once when you hit me and once when I was falling…” 

**“Oh, in that case, you’re welcome.”**

The Spider shook his head. _“Unbelievable.”_

**“Look, we’re not the bad guy here—”**

“Not from where I’m standing.” 

**“Then stand over there,”** Venom growled out with a casual wave of his claws.

 ** _{Spider isn’t even standing, he’s crouching.}_**

_Figure of speech, darling._ Eddie thought at his Other before they returned their attention back to the Spider. **“We’re not the one that allowed a _terrorist_ to fly freely over New York.”**

“You don’t know the whole story!” 

**“He blew up a _bus!_ There were _kids_ inside, Spider! The only reason there weren’t fatalities was because of _usss._ ”**

“I don’t know what’s going on on the West Coast but _cannibalism_ is still illegal in the State of New York.” 

**“We weren’t going to eat him, _really._ Surely you understand the value of intimidation in our line of—”**

“To what purpose? He was already down! Maybe you’re not a villain but you sure are an _asshole._ ”

Venom threw up their claws **“Guilty as charged.”**

“What are you even doing here?” Spider-man demanded. 

**“Uh… What does one normally do in a church? …We’re praying.”**

“Praying? Or _preying?_ ”

 **“Oh _screw off,_ Spider.”**

***

Spider-man seemed to freeze at those words though Venom wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t even the most offensive thing they’d said in the course of their fighting. 

They shook their head. _Self-righteous ass._

Truth be told both Eddie and the symbiote had somewhat admired the Spider before coming to New York. Eddie may have turned to the videos of Spider-man saving people when teaching the symbiote how to protect innocents. They may have even subtly patterned their costume after him. (Though after this, they would deny it to their dying day.) 

It also helped that a familiar name was credited as Spider-man’s photographer nine times out of ten—they were amazing shots too. Eddie couldn’t help but feel proud for Peter—clearly his photography hobby had flourished in their years apart. 

Now they really hoped Peter got his money shot. They didn’t think they could stand hanging around much longer with the Spider there. Spider-man was so much more irritating in person. And from the sound of it a judgy asshole to boot, just like the rest of those hypocrite “heroes.” 

They guessed it was true about how you should never meet your idols. 

The hero had tried to set them on fire too, albeit it was an ill-thought out and poorly executed attempt. 

All things considered they were being shockingly nice. 

They hadn’t attacked him (well, other than to defend themselves) nor had they even offered to eat his face (yet.) 

Eddie wasn’t even sure why they were treating the Spider with kid gloves. 

There was just something about him that reminded him of… 

Clearly it was because Spider-man was Peter’s friend. 

So they would do their best to try to avoid maiming the irritant, if only for Peter’s sake. 

“Ugh, _nasty!_ ” the Spider quipped which confused Venom because they hadn’t said or done anything particularly offensive for a while as far as they could tell. 

Oh yeah, the slime. 

They couldn’t help it, they drooled green slime on occasion. 

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” 

For obvious reasons, Eddie did not take kindly to “Yo Mama” jokes. 

It was a cheap shot, and a common one, but for Eddie it was an old (and deep) wound. 

(This time the symbiote held _him_ back from mauling the Spider.) 

Still, best to remove themselves from the situation before their temper got the better of them and they turned Peter’s friend (or meal ticket or whatever the hell this asshole was) into Spider-paste. 

***

“Wait, are you _running away now?_ ” Spider-man taunted, easily giving pace when the monster began leaping away. Spidey gave chase, utterly perplexed by the creature’s bizarre behavior. 

***

Eddie suppressed a groan when the Spider gave chase, because of course he was following them.

***

Spidey was momentarily distracted, dodging some tar-like webbing that Venom had shot at his face before the monster flipped him off and, quite literally, disappeared into the night.

***

 **“That was not necessary,”** Eddie muttered once they were safely camouflaged and out of the Spider’s sights. They slunk to street-level and the symbiote receded, becoming normal clothes. 

Eddie pulled up the collar of his coat against the chill. 

The whole flipping off Spider-man thing was 100% the symbiote’s idea and Eddie didn’t really approve… Okay, that was bullshit. 

It was more like 63-37%. It was still a horrible idea no matter how much of an ass the Spider could be. They really didn’t want to be on the costumed hero’s radar, at least not any more than they already were. They had a mission here, they had to protect Peter. (Wade too, even if the mercenary insisted he didn’t need it. They were both his roommates and they were both under Venom’s protection.) 

**_{Funny though,}_** his Other insisted. 

Eddie shook his head. 

Wade was a terrible influence. 

**_{Worry too much, Eddie. Spider hates us anyway.}_**

***

Eddie needn’t have worried for another reason. 

The immature move had not drawn the hero’s ire as expected, only confusion. If anything, the gesture had made him seem more human, that there was an actual person inside the goop. 

_Hell; that was practically a New York “hello.”_

Peter had gone in with low expectations. Frankly he was surprised he made it out of that alive and in one piece.

It hadn’t escaped Peter’s notice that the monster seemed to be pulling its punches either. 

Maybe the Venom situation might be more complicated than he originally thought. 

There was still the matter of Venom eating people, though. 

The creature claimed it was just a scare tactic (which while not as bad as actual cannibalism was still definitely a dick move) but then, he just had Venom’s word for it. 

Though, to be fair, he just had the _Internet’s_ word for it that he _did_ eat people. (That and his threat to Harry, who admittedly, was still alive and uneaten but who was to say that would have been the case had he not intervened?) 

But maybe he did jump to conclusions. 

Hell, a good chunk of the Internet thought that Spider-man was made of actual spiders—like three thousand spiders in a person-shaped suit or something. 

Peter had done research before this but given Venom’s status as practically a Cryptid all the sources that covered news about him and acknowledged his existence were tabloids so their credibility was dubious at best. 

Peter crouched atop the bell tower, ironically, in about the same spot that Venom just vacated. 

_Huh, Eddie was right. This is a good brooding spot._

The most unsettling thing about the encounter though was the thing Peter didn’t want to examine too closely. There was just something about the monster’s demeanor that felt… _familiar._

_Oh no, who is it this time? Dammit, it’s only my First Semester! Am I already going to lose yet another teacher to Supervillainy? First my Physics professor, then my biology professor. Who’s next? My English teacher?_

Sometimes his life really did suck.


	9. Losers On The Loose

“What do you mean you lost him?!” Eddie snapped at the merc. “We thought you were watching Peter!”

“Sorry, Eddie. He _really_ didn’t want the company. And, well, I tried to follow him but I lost track of him.” 

“How the _hell_ did you lose track of him?!”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, my guy. It’s like… Peter just ducked into this alley here and then Spider-man came out the other end…” 

Wade and Eddie looked at each other. 

“…Maybe Spider-man kidnapped him?”

It was, clearly, the only logical conclusion.

“I really don’t think that’s Spidey’s style,” Wade hedged. 

Eddie paced, his black “leather” jacket growing tendrils and lashing out chaotically in agitation. 

“Okay… okay. Calm down, think… alright,” they took a calming breath. “If we split up we’ll cover more ground.” 

“…That is such a cliché. You know if this was a horror movie, you’d be dead, right?” 

“If this was a horror movie _**than we’d be the monster,”**_ they grinned a very sharp grin with the symbiote moving up to partially cover the lower half of Eddie’s face. 

“…Point. Wait, do you mean ‘we’ as in you or ‘we’ as in you and me?” 

**“Wade…”**

“Because I know you got the whole xenomorph thing going but I do a mean Freddie Krueger impression—” 

**“Wade. Focus please. You take the far end of the city. We’ll search this half.”**

“Uh… shouldn’t it be the other way around? I mean, you move faster than I do, what with your tentacle dildos and swinging around—” 

**“ _You_ lost him, Wade. You do the footwork.” **

“Oh, _Motherfucker,_ ” Wade cursed as Venom effortlessly bounded away. With a sigh, Wade reached for his (new, non-smashed, non-drowned, and yet uncustomized) cellphone.

“Hey, Dopinder.” 

***

“Am I getting paid for this?” Dopinder couldn’t help but ask when Wade insisted on canvassing each street for the lost college student from the backseat of the taxi. 

“One thing at a time, buddy,” Wade muttered, trying to quell his rising agitation. 

It had been hours and there was still no sign of Peter. 

What if Spider-man really _had_ kidnapped him? 

Or worse, what if _they_ got to him first? 

Both Wade and Dopinder startled at the loud thump and the claw-shaped denting of the metal on the roof of the cab. 

“Uh… Mr. Pool?” Dopinder hesitantly inquired; a slight tremor in his voice. “There’s a monster on the roof.” 

Wade, with the self-preservation instincts of the immortal, rolled down the window and stuck his head out, whilst waving like an idiot. 

“Oh, hey big V!” he turned to Dopinder. “It’s just Venom,” Wade assured him, “you can keep driving.” 

Dopinder did, even when the monster grabbed Mr. Pool and dragged him out the window and up onto the roof with him because surely, Mr. Pool knew what he was doing… 

**“We thought we told you to search for him!”**

“I _am_ searching for him!” 

“…”

“…”

“Dopinder is searching for him.”

“Uh… Mr. Pool? Who are we searching for again?” Dopinder hissed as he broke for a red light. 

Further discussion was halted by the sudden sound of Bowie began playing over tinny speakers. 

**“Oh… uh, that’s ours,”** a phone suddenly appeared in their clawed hand and the symbiote retreated from Eddie’s mouth and throat. “Hello.” When they realized who was calling they almost dropped their phone. “Peter?! _Where the hell are you?!”_

“Uh… the apartment? _Where the hell are you?_ Is Wade with you?” 

“Yeah, uh… we’re just… uh… getting takeout?” 

_“At 3 in the morning?”_

“What? We were hungry! …uh, did you want any?” 

“…They got any of that orange chicken?”

“Yeah… _yeah!_ Uh… We’ll get you that. The chicken. The chicken that is orange—”

“Are you okay, Eddie? What’s going on over there? Why is it so windy?” 

“Yeah, sorry, uh, you’re breaking up. Gotta go,” they quickly hung up and let the symbiote cover their face again. **“Wade, please tell me you know of a Chinese takeout place that’s open this late?”**

“V, you are literally holding a cellphone. You can just search for one.”

Dopinder tried not to have an accident when Wade slipped back in through the window. 

The cabbie shuddered at the irritated growl that followed. Dopinder tentatively suggested a good Indian restaurant and hoped his suggestion didn’t get him eaten. 

**“No, no, I promised him Chinese. Come on, Wade, where’s a good Chinese restaurant in New York?”**

“You know I’m Canadian, right? Didn’t you grow up here?” 

“Yeah, but that was ages ago. We’ve been living in California for the last ten years.” 

“Well…. I do know of one but it’s like, an obvious front for a Very Legitimate Business if you catch my drift. You’d be better off just searching it.”

_**{Ooh, Bonus! We can we have mobsters for dessert!}** _

Eddie sighed and began searching Chinese restaurants. **“Let’s see what we’ve got on the first page…”**

**_{Can’t we? Can’t we, Eddie?}_ **

**“Huh. Two Stars.”** They frowned. **“So, about that Chinese mob restaurant?”**

_**{Yesss!}** _

“Yeah, they make great orange chicken.” 

***

“Three orders of takeout… no, better make it four, Eddie’s eating for two… No, wait, make that five. We owe Dopinder too for helping us too.”

***

“Here you go, pal!” Wade laughed, passing the cabbie the box of takeout and hoping that he’d forget about the fare. 

For a minute they just sat in the parked cab and shared their takeout, purposely ignoring the sounds of screaming as Venom paid a quick visit to the backrooms of the mob front business. 

Wade sighed, it was good food but he really doubted he’d be able to come back here—you really couldn’t take Eddie anywhere. 

“Uh… Mr. Pool? Am I getting paid?” Dopinder asked again, cringing, he feared he was taking his life into his hands in asking but he really couldn’t continue to justify trips like this with his boss. 

“Well, you see, this was all official superhero business, so… “ 

“Because if you keep not paying me, my boss will fire me and then I can’t help you anymore.” 

“But doing good is the best reward!” Wade insisted just as Venom returned. 

Dopinder tried to ignore the red glistening on fangs and slick black claws. 

“Dare we ask how big the charge is?” Eddie asked with a sigh, the symbiote peeling off his face and reverted to a plain clothes look. They flopped into the seat next to Wade just as Dopinder told him just how big the fare was. Of course the meter was still running. 

“Wade, you are an _asshole,_ ” Eddie grumbled as he dug out his credit card. 

“Yeah, yeah… I know.”

Dopinder’s eyes became as big as moons as said credit card was swiped through the meter. 

“…You can pay it?” Dopinder asked in disbelief. He didn’t mean to judge but well, given he willingly kept company with Wade, and immediately upon taking human form the monster seemed he’d elected to dress like a hobo. 

“Courtesy of dear old dad, the only thing he ever did for us.”

“You got your wallet on you?” Wade asked. “How does that even work?” 

Eddie grimaced. “Let’s not get into that, shall we? You don’t want to know.” 

“Yes I do! Gimme all the gruesome details!”

“…Fine. Symbiote “eats” it and regurgitates it when we need it.” 

“Ah, Power of Vore. That’s like, the best super power, _ever!_ Isn’t that the coolest, Dopinder?” 

“Uh…” 

“Seriously, Wade. Can you stop harassing the cabbies? 

“Dopinder helps me a lot, though! He helped with the girl the other day! Did you really think that I could have done it on my own, V? Me? Looking like Freddie fucking Krueger?!” 

“Wade…” 

“I don’t mind, Mr. Venom, really,” Dopinder insisted, “I just really need to be paid from time to time. I like being part of X-Force.” 

They blinked in surprise. “…X-Force?” 

“Uh… My superhero team… that’s not really active at the moment.” 

Wade kind of got the sense that they were all kind of avoiding him. Well, other than Dopinder and Domino. The girls were going to college in Japan, the rest of the X-men snubbed him, and last he heard the Cable guy had fucked off to a remote island somewhere to start a cult. 

“Hey, uh, did you want to join?” he asked Venom. 

Dopinder shot Wade a questioning look. “Really?” 

“Yeah, he’s cool. And I just kind of realized our roster’s pretty thin at the moment.” 

Venom was oddly touched by the gesture **“…No one has ever invited us to be one a superhero team before.”**

“It’s not much, I mean, it’s not like we’re the Avengers or anything.” 

Dopinder grimaced, “What Wade’s saying is we’re kind of a team of losers.” 

**“We’re losers.”**

Wade clapped them on the shoulder. “Welcome to the team.” 

*** 

“Peter, what the hell happened to your hand?” Wade asked with some concern as he passed his roomie one of the Chinese takeout boxes. 

Eddie looked up sharply from where they’d immediately collapsed on the sofa, clearly annoyed with Wade’s tone. 

Okay, maybe a little short with Peter but they were all exhausted. At least he didn’t have any early classes and didn’t have to get up in the morning but still one couldn’t help but feel like an idiot, having spent the night searching for their wayward roomie only to find he was safe at home. 

But then, that was Eddie’s idea. 

**_++This called for an official swearing in of X-Force. They really are a loser like us!++_ **

_Calm your tits, Yellow, they already agreed to join our boy band._

**_++Should make it official though, like with a loser cake and everything.++_ **

_I really doubt they’d appreciate that._

**_++If it was chocolate they might.++_ **

_…point._

Meanwhile Peter was looking unnerved by the attention and was behaving suspiciously, trying to hide the already obvious visible injury. Peter had burned his hand, it was pink, and blistered and peeling…

_…and why the hell did that seem so familiar?_

**_{It seemed it was a night for burns all around,}_** his Other thought resentfully. Though healed physically their pride was still somewhat wounded about Spider-man attacking him with a freaking lighter and thinking it a viable strategy. 

Eddie stalked closer, his frown deepening when he too caught sight of the injury on Peter’s hand and all apparent exhaustion vanishing in a new burst of adrenaline at the thought of Peter being hurt. 

“This… this is good orange chicken,” Peter futilely tried to deflect from his roommate’s scrutiny. 

(It was good food, even if there was some mysterious leaked red sauce splattered on the side of the take out boxes.) 

Eddie gently took his hand to examine the damage. In that moment Eddie was sorely tempted to reach out with his other and heal it for him.

Even if it meant telling Peter everything. 

Even if severing the bond (even temporarily) and becoming “I” again was pure terror and agony. 

“It looks way worse than it is,” Peter insisted, _Well, it’s exactly as bad as it looks but it will be healed by the morning_ , he thought to himself as he stepped away, giving himself some space while lightly rubbing his wound. 

And for Eddie, the moment passed. 

“It’s nothing. Just a lab accident,” Peter asserted with obvious embarrassment. 

_“Lab accident?!”_

“Peter, it’s four in the morning.” 

“Yeah, but I remembered on the way back, I just… I had to swing by the lab. Midterm projects you know? It’s crazy!” 

“Yeah,” Wade laughed, “I’ll drink to that bro. You know in Spanish class we got, like, group presentations?” 

Both Peter and Eddie recoiled in horror. 

“So, Peter… uh, did you get your shot last night?”Eddie asked quietly, doubt suddenly gnawing in his chest worse than a hungry symbiote. 

They hadn’t realized Peter had a science project. He hadn’t even mentioned it before. What if he had homework and couldn’t come? (Dammit, they hadn’t even _seen_ Peter there. Had they really put up with the Spider-ass for nothing?) 

“Yeah… it was the damnedest thing though. Venom was just kinda… sitting there.” almost as if posing, now that he thought about it. “I managed to get multiple shots. And then Spider-man was there…”

“…Wonder what the Spider was doing there,” Eddie muttered so lowly it was almost a growl. 

“Maybe he was meeting his boyfriend,” Wade suggested with mirth. 

A tick formed in Eddie’s eye. “Oh _screw off,_ Wade!” he grumbled before reclaiming the couch and attacking the remaining takeout with the voracity of a starving man and unobservant of the way Peter had frozen at his words. 

“…What did you say?” Peter asked with rising horror. 

_“What?”_ Eddie demanded when they finally noticed Peter was kind of looking at them funny.

Peter swallowed. “…Nothing.” 

“Uh… really? What’s with the horror-movie look, Pete?” Wade tried. 

( **“Oh _screw off,_ Spider.” ** ) Peter’s mind helpfully reminded his earlier confrontation with Venom. 

It had been the same pose, the same inflection… Hell, _almost_ the same growing undertone… 

“It’s _nothing,_ ” Peter insisted. 

***

Peter woke up gasping for breath.

_Of course._

He was supposed to finally be getting some sleep after a long night in patrolling but for some reason his mind had decided to replay the casual violence that Eddie had inflicted upon the Rat-Man the other day. 

It had hardly been noteworthy—Eddie had just knocked him out. It wasn’t like Peter hadn’t seen and done the same countless times. Besides, his spider-sense hadn’t gone off at the time so there probably wasn’t anything to worry about—

Peter bolted upright in realization. 

_His spider-sense hadn’t gone off._

It went off for _Rat-Man_ even though he’d hardly been a threat but it hadn’t gone off for Eddie even when he did… _that._

That was suspicious in itself. 

Peter had learned to interpret his Spider-sense as having varying levels—there was the blaring of immediate danger and then there was the background noise of low level or potential threats. Even his allies gave a faint buzz of spider-sense; Felicia set it off all the time even though they hadn’t fought seriously in months and he now counted the Black Cat as a friend and ally. Hell, he even got the buzz from _Wade,_ probably because Peter knew him to be taking a karate class but from Eddie there was _nothing._ As far as his Spider-sense was concerned, Eddie was a person-shaped void.

_Okay that’s kind of creepy, but why does this feel so familiar?_

Peter tried to remember if there were any other instances of his Spider-sense going suspiciously silent.

_(A dark shape snagging him out of the air… the monster slamming him into the roof…)_

_(The brooding silhouette of the hollow man-monster praying at the church…)_

_Both times._ Both times he’d encountered Venom there’d been _nothing._ Not a twinge. They were a monster-shaped void. 

Just like… 

_No._

_No… no way. It can’t be. That’s impossible!_

Peter wasn’t an idiot. 

He’d noticed things. Things were _different_ about his childhood friend. 

And yet Eddie was just… _Eddie._

(There was _no_ way…)

And _of course_ things would be different! They weren’t kids anymore. They’d grown up. They’d both lost their parents. And Eddie had been living on the streets! Who knows what else happened in the intervening years. 

There were plenty of other things that could explain…

_A changed attitude, yes. But not the enhanced strength. Not the immunity to my Spider-sense._

Still he was pretty sure that he’d notice if Eddie started eating brains…. 

Peter shook his head. No, no—he was being ridiculous. 

Peter just couldn’t believe what his sleep-deprived mind had concluded because Eddie wasn’t like that, Eddie would never hurt him. At least not intentionally—

_(You were wearing a mask, genius. You wouldn’t have been ‘Peter’ to him then. You were Spider-man. He wouldn’t have **known.** ) _

_No._

_Oh no…_

_Nope. Not happening. This is so not happening—_

He was going to compartmentalize this disturbing thought safely away.

Surely he was just over-thinking this. 

Clearly, things would make more sense in the morning. 

He was _going to sleep._ He _had_ to! He had a physics test tomorrow, _dammit!_

His racing pulse didn’t matter. 

His intrusive thoughts comparing his best friend to a murder monster didn’t matter. 

He needed sleep. He’d find a way, even if he had to knock himself out, and he was going to pretend that this unsettling conspiracy theory about his best friend had never crossed his mind. 

Still, perhaps it was time to be keeping a closer eye on his oldest friend because _something_ was definitely going on with Eddie. 

Hell, maybe Eddie was a mutant. That was a nice, convenient, non-Venom explanation. Yeah, he’d go with that for now. Now that he thought about it, Peter did seem to recall now that Eddie’s dad kicked him out for some reason back when they were kids. Peter began to imagine the conversation in his head where he told him it was okay.

***

By the time Eddie greeted him in the kitchen the next morning, Peter’s suspicions had faded for now to a background whisper with the smell of morning coffee.


End file.
